That Glorious Line
by AvidAkiraReader
Summary: A small bet between racers, turns out to be the start of a small crush. For PitFTW and Foxpilot's AU Romance Contest!


**That Glorious Line**

**YES! I HAVE CREATED A NEW PAIRING! ****I WILL CALL IT…! ****I don't own anything.**

**Bucket. I can't think of anything.**

**My apologies for OOCness.**

**EDITED 3-6-11 JUST IN CASE.**

**Warning: I don't really know what happens before and after real Kart races, so bear with me.**

**::**

A man with scruffy blue hair and a red headband under said mop of hair, and similar colored piercing ocean blue eyes crossed over to a table lined with numerous of helmets where his friend, Pit, was. They were currently at a Go Kart track, and Pit was discussing with another friend, Link, on which helmet he should get. None of them owned their own helmets, so they always went to nick one where the Kart racers left them. Ike rolled his eyes, and pulled out a video camera from a pocket. Thumbing the 'REC' button, Ike called his friends' attention with his unusually low, rough voice.

"Hey, Pit, get that pink angel one!" Ike laughed at his friend's blushing. It was well-known that Pit was a fanatic about the supernatural. "Then you get that…Never mind." Pit said, scowling good-naturedly at the bluenette. Link snickered at the two, then stopped suddenly, and pointed dramatically at the video camera that was being pointed at them, "Are you taping us?" He cried out in a high, falsetto voice.

"Ah shut it and choose your Kart and helmet." Ike replied. Pit ignored the fact that Ike was videotaping him, and absentmindedly threw a helmet at Ike. Catching it barely, he was forced to drop the camera in his attempt to get the helmet. "Ah shoot." Ike mumbled, watching in slow motion as the camera fell, holding the helmet under his arm.

Then, a pale hand that looked incredibly feminine, grabbed it before it hit the cold ground. Looking, Ike noticed a pair of eyes that held a mixture of sapphire blue and a jade green. She was wearing a simple pair of skinny jeans and a white t-shirt.

"Missing something?" A voice that sounded like birds knocked him out of his inspection. "Yeah…Thanks for grabbing it." Ike said, mentally adding a '_Before it hit the ground, therefore making me pay $200 or more__ to Pit.' _Taking it from her hands, he walked off to his friends, who were looking at him with curiosity.

Once he reached them, he was bombarded with questions. "Who was that?" Link jumped him first, raising an eyebrow. "Uh…" Ike answered blankly.

What an idiot he was, not asking her name.

"…You **idiot**." Pit commented incredulously. "Shut it, and choose a helmet." Ike growled, looking at his own. It had _green_ fire?

Head slumping, Ike muttered under his voice, "Green fire? What has this world come to…?" Blue fire was understandable, red fire was common sense, but green?

Link had chosen a forest green helmet, with dashes of dark blue zigzagging around the edges, and Pit had gone with a simple white helmet with a gold laurel encircling the top of the helmet.

Grinning slightly to himself, Ike looked at the track again. A few turns there, maybe a brake there…_'This won't be really competitive…'_ Ike thought to himself, noting that Pit couldn't get his helmet on right. Link seemed to be laughing and trying to help his friend. He could hear a faint, "Pit! Did you even get that yellow thing yet? ...Seriously? No? You poor, poor amateur...", from Link.

"You joining the race?" That same bird-like voice interrupted his thoughts again. "Yeah." Ike said in a monotone voice. He found it worked immensely to keep away intruding strangers.

How unfortunate it didn't work on her.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing the name of soon-to-be second place winner?" The woman tilted her head to the side, long green hair shifting with it. Ike blinked a few times, and registered what she had just said.

"_Second_ place, woman?" Ike raised an eyebrow. How dare she call him the _second_ place winner…She grinned at his response.

"Yep, cause there's no way you'll beat the winner of the last five races, Bluey." She smirked arrogantly. He twitched at the insulting nickname.

"At least I haven't resorted to name calling to worm out the real name of said _loser_." Ike replied scathingly, inwardly smiling at the shocked expression she now wore.

"If I give you mine, will you give me yours?" She then inquired, now awkward that she beat him. For the last time.

"…How about the winner asks us two questions, one we can ignore?" Ike compromised.

"Deal, Bluey." She immediately agreed.

"**ALL PARTICIPANTS JOINING THE RACE PLEASE GO TO YOUR RESPECTIVE KARTS." **The microphone blared out.

"See you later…Greenhorn." Ike snickered at the reaction of the woman.

"I AM NOT A NEWBIE!" She yelled, and then began stalking over to her Kart.

::

Ike took great pride in his Kart. It was the usual build of a Kart, but his was custom painted with a gold sword with fire surrounding it painted on the hood.

Link and Pit however, didn't bother custom painting their Kart, therefore had plain colors, green and white respectively.

"**3…" **Ike gripped the wheel tightly. He would win the stupid race…

"**2…"** He wouldn't lose to a woman, not by a long shot…He revved up the Kart.

"**1…"** LIKE HELL HE'S GONNA LOSE!

"**GO KART RACERS!" **Bursting with energy, Ike sped forward on the track. He was born to do this…

::

Palutena quivered with withheld fury. How dare that man call her a 'Greenhorn'!

She reached her custom made Kart, at snatched her helmet.

How ironic, that the colors matched his eyes, a deep ocean blue… She rubbed her right temple. "Lord have mercy on me…" She mumbled, stepping in her 'Kart.'

It wasn't really a Kart, by design. But it ran on gas and gave out smoke, so it wasn't that different. Her Kart actually looked like a chariot dipped in silver. She stood in it imperiously, and it was dragged by…a mech horse.

Based on her favorite horse, a mustang, she had specifically asked for this type of horse.

Fortunately, they lived in a _slightly_ advanced society that had almost unlimited skills in blacksmithing and scientists.

"**3…"** The countdown has begun…

"**2…"** Time for the (_handsome)_ guy to go down in the dirt…She revved up her chariot.

"**1…"** EAT. MY. DUST, BLUEY!

"**GO KART RACERS!" **Palutena rushed off ahead of Bluey's friends. Amateurs…

::

Ike was slowly but surely edging his way up to the first. Unlike some other racers, Ike never bumped into any other people's karts. He was too chivalrous. However, Ike hoped his conscious and subconscious would let him make an exception for the (_beauty)_ woman. But with his luck, he wouldn't. Link and Pit had tried to knock him out of it, but his senses refused to let him let go of the natural instinct not to bump girls.

Passing an acquaintance, Peach, who was driving happily along in her pink kart, Ike swerved to her side and passed her. Chancing a glimpse on his map, which was firmly attached to the right side of the wheel, he noticed that the woman had passed Link, who was in 6th place…Meaning she was two places behind him.

Ike growled silently. '_Someone has got it in for me up there I wager…' _Ike amusedly wondered.

Zooming past a tall replica of Mario, Luigi, who sent a grateful glance his way, and dropped back to where his secret crush, Daisy was. Inwardly, Ike sort of felt envious at Mario's brother. He was not prone to envy attacks, but they mainly happened when he saw his friends with other girls. Especially when Link began to flirt with _Zelda_. So, so not his type of woman.

Blinking once, Ike scowled at himself and did a small rant. '_It has __**got**__ to be that woman, I haven't felt envious of anyone in a while…Nor have I thought of women that long for a while.'_ Some voice replied back to him in an annoying tone, '_**You like her, you like her!' **_Ike frowned. Was he going nuts now that his own mind was talking to him?

He's only known her for about 5- _**' 10 minutes. Including the time where you stared at her for the first five minutes while you were waiting for Pit and Link!'**_ Ike chanced a glance at his map again. She's…behind him?

'_Ah crud.'_ He thought. He looked at the top right of the map. Ike cursed at what he saw. This wasn't a traditional 3 round race…This was a one rounder.

::

Palutena smirked as she passed the green capped man, and she looked at her map. Wait…Palutena felt her world stutter a few seconds, and then resumed its pace. Was the green capped man going…to the orange dressed one?

Would he really sacrifice this Kart race to go to the orange dressed one?

Palutena felt an emotion she hadn't had since she turned into a Kart racer.

Envy.

She never had a loved one in these Kart races, nor one to cheer her on. Palutena was always the rebel one in her well-mannered family and they had disliked her love for Kart Racing. She didn't have many friends either, and those she did have, were far off in foreign places.

Shaking her head to clear those thoughts, she focused on the man ahead of her…

The man with blue hair.

The man who ironically had the same color as her racing helmet.

The man who was now at second place, leaving her with a fat man to pass.

She growled under her breath, they were going to make a sharp turn here, and those were her specialty.

She would make it first.

She always did.

::

Ike veered at the sharp turn, and passed Bowser, who ironically was doing the exact same thing Ike never did. He bumped his way up to first, because his speed wasn't top notch.

Speaking of first…where was Mario? Ike checked his map. He almost hit the brakes at what he saw.

**Ike-1****st**

Ike, Ike Greil, was first place? But where was Mario? Ike checked again.

Mario was catching up, damn.

::

So close to victory, Palutena could savor the luxuries the prize money would get her.

Just pass the man she

(_Has a crush on)_

…disliked, and she would be scotch free from all this

(_Damned)_

…fun racing, however reluctant

(_Happy)_

…she would be, she would win.

::

Ike zoomed ever closer to that line, the glorious, checkered line.

Only a few more seconds, he realized, before he crossed it.

A faint hoof beat that rang with a metallic ring caught his attention. Was she already catching up to him? How strange…

He had swore he wouldn't lose to this woman, and here she was, catching up to him.

::

Palutena hissed in agitation when they reached ever closer to that line. So close…but so far away from winning.

::

Mario peered at his map, he had already known that Bowser would rig the track, but he was the only one who bothered listening to rumors.

Rumors were known to be false, but rumors turned out to be quite true too,

Bowser had been rumored to put a small smoke bomb ten feet before the finishing line, meaning to distract everyone while he got to the first.

That was why Mario wasn't going to charge in first. He was going to wait it out patiently in third place.

Those two, the scruffy blue haired man, and the green haired woman, were bound to hit the smoke bomb together, since they were practically neck-to-neck.

::

Ike and that woman were practically neck to neck for the finish line. Their 'Karts', both custom painted and custom made, were _so close to getting to the finish line_.

Ten feet before that glorious line.

And then…

::

'_What is this?'_ Palutena thought wildly, almost throwing her arms up in the smoke filled air. A faint explosion rang through her ears, and she realized, it was a bomb.

The smoke was so black; she wanted to be lost in it…To never feel a need to have money again…

But she needed to win this.

She would keep on going.

::

Ike cursed loudly, and glanced at the woman, it looked like she was going to keep riding through the damn smoke. Cursing again, but at his stupid chivalrous side, he looked at the smoke, then the woman.

"_**Damn my chiv-!"**_ Ike shouted in his mind and outwardly. Unbuckling himself from the Kart's seat and carefully getting to his feet, Ike timed it perfectly. He tackled the woman out to the side of the track, where the smoke bomb wouldn't hit them.

::

Mario could see they weren't smoke bombs.

And he could see they weren't toxic to anyone either.

They were…simply explosives.

Explosives that would be fatal to someone who breathed in the smoke. Smoke clogged up the lungs, and while the bomb wasn't poisonous, the smoke from it certainly was.

He slammed his brakes.

But not until he got after the finish line, when the smoke finally cleared.

::

Palutena never saw what hit her, but she already knew it wasn't manmade. It was organic, warm, and it was…blue.

Blue?

Her own eyes opened, to face ocean blue, piercing eyes. She lifted her eyes above those, and saw a red headband.

Even higher.

Scruffy, blue hair.

Her eyes went lower.

Was he…on top of her?

What was going on…?

::

Ike blinked his eyes back at mixture of sapphire blue and jade green. They were already being torched with curiosity. Thank God they had helmets…oh wait. His had fallen off some time earlier…

And her's had too.

::

"Your hurt." She said in a monotone voice. No need to worry about the stranger. No need…But he still had that wound on his head.

"Obviously." The infuriating man replied.

"Why are you on top of me?" She demanded.

::

Ike wanted to yell at her. Did she care that there was a bomb?

In return, he smirked at her, and whispered in her ear.

"I got ahead."

::

Damn.

She lost.

"Mario won."

::

"But as I saved your life, I get double the win." Ike countered.

::

Silence.

And a touch of defeat.

::

Ike grinned as she accepted defeat. "Now for those two questions?" She twitched, and replied, "Ask away Bluey."

It was his turn to twitch at the nickname. Sighing in exasperation, he began his two minute interrogation.

"Name?"

::

How obvious he would go for the name first.

::

"Palutena." Ike got off her to go stand up by himself, and being the _gentleman_ he was, he held out his hand.

"Ike Greil." He could tell that the woman, no, Palutena really wanted to know his name.

::

She was sure he was going to ask some personal question next.

::

Ike smiled inwardly; she wouldn't be prepared for this.

::

Palutena gingerly took his hand, and stood up.

::

"Where will you go after this? Answer this truthfully." Ike demanded, relishing her stunned expression.

::

Where…will she go next?

Palutena smiled at Ike.

"When I go somewhere, I'll tell you then."

::

Ike's face fell at the answer. He used his two questions, one answered mysteriously.

He could try one last thing though.

"May I have your number then?"

::

"Let's see the records first, Greil."

* * *

**Damn, that was hard. I tried out at least three AUs before I stuck with this one. ****The first was something about Ike being an angel, but that died quickly. ****The second was him being a drunk, which stayed in this oneshot until…****The third one was them in school, but that's been done for a while, so…**

**This happened! Mario actually won the race, but Ike won the bet with Palutena!**

**First contest I've been in, and it ends like this?**

**A KART RACE? That's not gonna end well for me...**

**Read and Criticize readers!**


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